AS ANYONE NOTICED this year has an unusual kalendar? The feast of the Patron Saints of North America (19 October) will be replaced this year by a Sunday—except in Canada, which moved it to 26 September because Canada gets cold in October. If your church is named in honor of the holy Jesuit Martyrs, you can replace the Sunday—and the same holds true for the patron saint of your country—but unfortunately,1 this doesn’t apply to patron saints of the region or wider territory. The feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (9 November) replaces a Sunday this year. Very weirdly, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (a.k.a. “All Souls”) likewise replaces a Sunday this year, on November 2nd. The MISSALE RECENS allows other colors besides black in terms of the vestments; but priests may still choose black vestments. [“Color niger adhiberi potest, ubi mos est, in Missis defunctorum.”] Finally, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September) falls on a Sunday this year. That is the anniversary of the mighty SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, promulgated by the great Benedict XVI.
A solemnity I dearly love, the feast of ALL SAINTS (November 1st), falls on a Saturday. As a result, it will effectively be canceled: in terms of the extra Masses that would otherwise be said on that day; the extra Masses that—in many parishes—are added the night before; the various elements of solemnity (such as choirs singing) which would otherwise be present; loss of the obligation to abstain from unnecessary work to honor this feast; and all the other elements which would otherwise be present when it doesn’t fall on a Saturday. Indeed, the evening Mass (!) on 1 November will be ALL SOULS in many parishes, although there’s disagreement on whether this is strictly required.
1 The rubrics for the MISSALE RECENS say in §58:
“For the pastoral good of the faithful, it is permitted to observe on Sundays in Ordinary Time those celebrations that fall during the week and that are agreeable to the devotion of the faithful, provided the celebrations rank above that Sunday in the Table of Liturgical Days. The Mass of such celebrations may be used at all the celebrations of Mass at which the people are present.”
Sadly, the feast of the Patron Saints of North America on 19 October (which falls on a Sunday this year) cannot overpower the Sunday because they are both the same rank. According to the “order of precedence” they are both II class. You can look that up specifically under: “the Feast of the principal Patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory.”
